This invention relates to methods and apparatus for transdermal medicament delivery and to improvements therein. More specifically, this invention relates to improved methods and apparatus for active (as opposed to passive) transdermal, ambulatory, drug delivery. Yet more particularly, this invention relates to increased efficiency iontophoresis devices or appliances and to improved methods of making and using such devices.
Iontophoresis, according to Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, is defined to be "the introduction, by means of electric current, of ions of soluble salts into the tissues of the body for therapeutic purposes." Iontophoretic devices have been known, since the early 1900's. British patent specification No. 410,009 (1934) describes an iontophoric device which overcame one of the disadvantages of such early devices known to the art at that time, namely the requirement of a special low tension (low voltage) source of current which meant that the patient needed to be immobilized near such source. The device of that British specification was made by forming from the electrodes and the material containing the medicament or drug to be delivered transdermally, a galvanic cell which itself produced the current necessary for iontophoretically delivering the medicament. This ambulatory device thus permitted iontophoretic drug delivery with substantially less interference with the patient's daily occupation.
More recently, a number of United States patents have issued in the iontophoresis technology, indicating a renewed interest in this mode of drug delivery. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,991,755 issued to Jack A. Vernon et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,141,359 issued to Stephen C. Jacobson et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,398,545 issued to Wilson; U.S. Pat. No. 4,250,878 issued to Jacobsen disclose examples of iontophoretic devices and some applications thereof. The iontophoresis process has been found to be useful in the transdermal administration or introduction of medicaments or drugs including lidocaine hydrochloride, hydrocortisone, acetic acid, fluoride, penicillin, dexamethasone sodium phosphate and many other drugs. Perhaps the widest use of iontophoresis is that of diagnosing cystic fibrosis by using pilocarpine nitrate iontophoresis. The pilocarpine nitrate stimulates sweat production; the sweat is collected and analyzed for its chloride content to detect the presence of the disease.
In presently known iontophoretic devices, at least two electrodes are generally used. Both these electrodes are disposed so as to be in intimate electrical contact with some portion of the skin of the body. One electrode, called the active electrode, is the electrode from which the ionic substance, medicament, drug precursor or drug is delivered or driven into the body by electrical repulsion. The other electrode, called the indifferent or ground electrode, serves to close the electrical circuit through the body. In conjunction with the patient's skin contacted by the electrodes, the circuit is completed by connection of the electrodes to a source of electrical energy, e.g., a battery, or appropriately modified household current. For example, if the ionic substance to be driven into the body is positively charged, then the positive electrode (the anode) will be the active electrode and the negative electrode (the cathode) will serve to complete the circuit. If the ionic substance to be delivered is negatively charged, then the negative electrode will be the active electrode and the positive electrode will be the indifferent electrode.
Furthermore, existing iontophoresis devices generally require a reservoir or source of the ionized or ionizable species (or a precursor of such species) which is to be iontophoretically delivered or introduced into the body. Examples of such reservoirs or sources of ionized or ionizable species include a pouch as described in the previously mentioned Jacobsen U.S. Pat. No. 4,250,878, or the pre-formed gel body of the previously mentioned Webster U.S. Pat. No. 4,382,529. Such drug reservoirs, when electrically connected to the anode or the cathode of an iontophoresis device to provide a fixed or renewable source of one or more desired species, are generally used with anodes or cathodes which are substantially electrochemically inert. As is more fully discussed below, utilization of such substantially inert electrodes as contemplated in the prior art has significant disadvantages.
The present invention provides enhanced methods and apparatus for the iontophoretic delivery of ionized or ionizable medicaments e.g., drugs, by means of the intentional selection and utilization of a combination of anode or cathode conductive members or electrodes having specified characteristics and the drug(s) to be delivered. Use of this invention increases the efficiency, safety and acceptability of the iontophoretic drug delivery process.